Hi! My name is Rileigh, but you already know that. You might know little things about me, such as knowing I like cold weather better than hot weather. You may know that I often tease people and I find myself hilarious. You could know that I sometimes remember random things and will often be overthinking things as I try to come up with a solution or simply a better way to do things. As I sat here trying to start write just a few basic sentences about myself and what I liked, I couldn’t separate my faith from myself. After sitting in front of the computer for hours all I had was a few bland sentences that said nothing real because every part of me would lead back to talking about Christ when I was just trying to tell you about me. My personality, the way I interact with others, the way I spend my free time. All of it is the result of a lifetime desiring to grow closer to Him and follow His commandments. I fall so far short of being perfect, but that’s the beauty of Jesus that makes me treasure every minute I get to spend in prayer, worshipping, hearing a message, or reading my bible. He knows how much of a sinner I am, yet He still walks with me and loves me as I am.

When did you become a Christian? 

I am 17 years old, born and raised in Florida. I have grown up in a loving Christ-centered home with two parents. I'm the middle of five children with an older brother and sister, and two younger brothers. I've gone to Lakeview Church my whole life, so I have watched buildings change, people come and go, and seen God grow a small church to become home for hundreds of people. 

I've always known Christ as my savior but looking back I can see how my faith matured as I did. As a little girl I went to Sunday school almost every week. I loved getting to learn about God, I got to hang out with my friends for an hour, and I got a lot of hugs every week. I didn't think life could get any better. I've realized that's when the faith I had was really more my parents than my own personal relationship with God. 

When I got to middle school, Sunday school was over and youth group started. Having friends and siblings older than me, I had heard a lot about youth group and had been looking forward to going. Again, I enjoyed getting to hang out with my friends. But as I started attending "big church" and having a lesson every Wednesday night at youth, I noticed that the words I'd known forever seemed to mean more to those around me. Putting your hands up during a slow song wasn't just what people did; it was actually an act of worship for each person as they had a heart of awe, adoration, prayer, and praise. Once I got a phone, I started reading my bible regularly and doing a daily devotional through the YouVersion app. At first it was because I knew that's what you should do as a Christian. But the more I read, the more I wanted to keep reading. Slowly I was building roots for my faith that came from my personal relationship with God, and now I get to feel the love for God little Rileigh envied in those around her. 

The faith I have now is stronger than I knew faith could be as I live every day praying that my eyes will remain fixed on Jesus. I often find myself thinking about when I get to go home and be with God forever in heaven, but I can't wait to be able to reflect on my life right now and see how my faith has grown even deeper and stronger than it currently is. My heart fills with an overwhelming love and thanksgiving when I think about my Savior, and I pray I never lose that sense of awe and gratitude. 

Why missions? 

Everyone loves to ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. I have never known. When I was in 5th grade, my older brother was a freshman in high school. He had known what degree he wanted and is graduating college this year as a civil engineer. But the reality of that question of "what's next?" in my brother's life made my own uncertainty feel like something I needed to know the answer to. College is our culture's next step after high school. But growing up in church had made missions a loud voice in my life too. The more I pondered what I would go to college for, the more I started to ask God if college was even my next step. So for almost six years I was praying about maybe doing missions. 

Last year my prayer of "God, what do I do" shifted to "Lord, here I am, send me. I want to go wherever you want to use me. I want to do what you want me to do", and I realized I felt more of a pull towards missions than college. I was nervous about mentioning this to my mom because I have the grades for college and it's what my older siblings did. One Sunday God prompted my mom to tell me it was okay if I wanted to take a gap year after high school and do a mission trip instead. This shocked me because I hadn't said anything to her yet, but God wasn't done. That same morning someone we knew at church came over and handed us a flyer for the Dominican Republic mission trip. We signed up for it and eventually I went on my first mission trip. In the months leading up to this week-long trip to the DR, I prayed that God would let me know if missions is truly what He wanted me to do. On the morning of our first full day there, God gave me the confirmation I had been praying for. 

I have been in prayer about being away from home with no guaranteed regular communication after growing up with people I have known for as long as I can remember, and with a wonderful, loving family. But there is so much scripture about how God will provide for us, to trust Him and not be afraid, and to know that in the end He is all we need. As I take the time to listen, the Holy Spirit whispers in my heart to trust God, to rely only on God, to focus on God, and to trust that I am right where He wants me. So, I know that wherever I go I will have our loving Father right there with me, and I trust He will always provide the strength I need to serve Him. 

Why the World Race? 

I had never heard of the World Race until about a year ago when one of the leaders at my youth group told me about it. I had told her I felt like God might be calling me to missions, and she told me I should look into the World Race Gap Year. I spent hours exploring their website and doing my own research. It seemed like a good answer, but I looked into other organizations before settling on the World Race. In my questioning about if the World Race is the right missions group to go with, I received more confirmation about it. 

In August of 2025, the routes for 2026 trips opened up. There are three different World Race: Gap Year routes, and after lots of prayer over the routes and each country I could potentially go to, I signed up for the first one traveling to Guatemala, South Korea, Vietnam, South Africa, and Eswatini. After I signed up, I still had doubts, but in the first couple months of constantly having some little thing to do for the World Race, I received even more confirmation that this organization/mission trip is where God has called me. 

There are still those little doubts that creep into my mind, and the fear/worry that threatens to overwhelm me. But even now as I am preparing for the race, there are so many little reminders of God's sovereignty and moments of reassurance in my life.